cadet blogs

What an amazing summer it has been so far! I got to Hawaii five weeks ago and have loved every second since! It is beautiful here and there is a ton of stuff to do so you never get bored. I was assigned to Sector Honolulu for the second half of my summer and I have been able to learn a lot about the Coast Guard from the ashore side. While at sector I was immersed into six different areas of operation that report to or are attached to sector. Learning about the different areas of sector prevention and response helped me to gain perspective on what I may want to do in my Coast Guard career and opportunities I can take to lead me there.

When I haven’t been working, I have been going to a ton of different, but equally beautiful, beaches. I have also hiked to a lot of mountaintops and waterfalls, snorkeled, swam, and eaten different foods. The views here are like nothing I have ever seen and the color of the water is unreal.

All in all I have had an incredible summer so far and I still have three weeks of leave at home to look forward to. I am ready to take a break and relax with my friends and family. I am so grateful for the opportunity I was given to come out here.

I know Swab Summer is in full swing so I am sending my best to the Class of 2018. I know they are in good hands with the Class of 2016 and I’m sure they are learning a lot!!

As I sit here on the mess deck of USCGC Seahawk, I look back on a summer that has allowed me to experience more than I ever thought I would ever be given when I first applied to the Coast Guard Academy over three years ago. When I applied, I really did not understand much about the Coast Guard, despite my best intentions to learn. When I applied, I was also much less knowledgeable of the world, my surroundings, and what occurs outside of our 50 states. This summer has given me the final push required to complete my four-year tenure at the Coast Guard Academy. Want to hear about it? Just keep on reading!

1/c Andrew Ratti and I have been through almost every Academy summer together. We were swabs together, we were cadre together, and this year, we were both given the opportunity to go to Sector Southeast New England…and Israel. Sector was an interesting few weeks, learning about what the Command Center entails, and how thorough and critical the prevention and response departments of a sector truly are. We knew, however, that the opportunity at sector was only filler for the remaining weeks of our first phase together – the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) program in Israel. Along with 1/c Gever, we joined 27 other service academy cadets on a three-week adventure to the Holy Land. It was eye opening, and words can’t express the wonders we saw. From the Ramon Crater to the Dead Sea, from the Golan Heights to the Jordan River, from the Sea of Galilee to Tel Aviv; it all was an adventure and incredible earning experience. Until you’ve been to Israel, you don’t understand what is happening over there. You can guess from media outlets that are biased, and you can make your own opinions, based upon the inaccuracy being reported. But until you visit the Middle East, there’s no room to judge, or understand, what is going on, and why certain agreements just will not work. That trip was amazing, and very much worth the time off from USCG operations.

Despite that, we came back to the United States, and I headed to the USCGC Seahawk, an 87-foot patrol boat in Panama City, Florida (I know, my summer was extremely difficult). Here, I’ve worked on getting Inport Officer of the Deck qualified, Crewmember of the Watch qualified, and getting the many, many signatures that come with the Academy personal qualification standard (PQS) packet. We’ve only been underway for five to six days since I’ve been here my five weeks, but next week is underway every day until I leave. The crew has been amazing, and I’ve learned a lot about what I want to do when I get out into the fleet. It also gave me my ideas as to what I want to put in for as my billet choices, which, somehow, is only seven months away.

So to put it short and sweet, this summer has been the best summer since I’ve been here. Each summer was better than the last, which I guess is the way it’s meant to be. I’m excited to take my leave, but I’ll be just as excited to head back to the CGA and finish this last year of school. That butter bar is getting closer and closer!